Page 1 of Shameless

1.Murder Island

Lula

Ibury my face in Stefan’s chest, soaking up his warmth, inhaling his fresh, citrusy scent.

Crew is immediately behind me, stroking my hair and murmuring soft, soothing words in my ear.

It feels good. Safe.

I snort out a laugh. I know it’s ridiculous, there’s blood everywhere and three dead bodies, it’s not funny.

And yet, it kind of is funny that I feel safe in the middle of this ridiculous, gory carnage.

My heart is slamming against my chest so loudly that it drowns the voices around me.

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” Jules asks someone, probably Rikki.

“I’m ok. I don’t mean ok, but—fuck.”

I lift my face just as Jules pulls Rikki into his arms.

“I know what you mean. I’m glad you aren’t hurt,” he pulls slightly back to take a better look at his half-brother. “You’re covered in blood.”

A sob escapes Rikki’s lips and he covers his mouth with a trembling, tattooed hand. His eyes are so huge that the pupils are blown, covering the brown of his irises. It gives him a haunted look in his pale, gaunt face. “It isn’t my blood. I—I woke up shaking. I needed something… a fix. Crew and Stefan watched me all night, they didn’t let me go out and the stuff I took last night was wearing off. I snuck out to go look for Trevor when they finally fell asleep.”

Jules asks the same question that comes to my mind. “How did you get here? Weren’t you in your bungalow on the other island?”

“I just found someone from the staff, they were loading drink crates on a boat and I hitched a ride. They said everyone was already hunting and I thought Trevor was with them. I heard gunshots and followed the noise. Then I—I found him. Them. I found them.”

Rikki repeats what he said when he ran toward us a few minutes ago. He saw Trevor and kneeled next to him, trying to help. He heard more gunshots and footsteps and saw someone in a dark hoodie and pants who went after him.

“I thought they were gonna kill me too,” he weeps. “I hid behind a tree and they ran just past me. I?—”

“You shouldn’t have touched anything.” Jules says. “This is a crime scene and when the cops come, they’ll think you’re involved in this mess.”

Rikki’s reaction surprises me. He goes from distraught to angry in the blink of an eye. “I saw my…friendwas hurt, Jules. I didn’t think. What would you have done if that was you?”

Jules opens his mouth to respond, but Crew cuts in. “Ha. You don’t know Cutler well enough, Riks. He wouldn’t help his own mother.”

Just like Rikki a second ago, Jules’s tone goes from concerned to angry in mere seconds. “Fuck off, James.” He snaps. “You know shit about me. I’m just saying that he’s tampered with a crime scene and he put himself in danger by staying here while the shooter was still around. I’m worried about him, like you should be if you weren’t too busy trying to get into Lula’s pants.”

“You’re being an asshole,” Crew argues. “Don’t you see that Rikki is in shock? Arguing about what he should have done makes no difference now. Maybe if you weren’t always trying to have the last word, you’d pick up on other people’s mental state a little better.”

I close my eyes, hiding my face in Stefan’s ripped chest. “Stop.” I whimper.

“Lula is right,” Stefan intervenes, tightening his arms around me. “We need to find someone to help. Alert everyone that there’s a murderer on the loose. You should know better, dick measuring contests can wait.”

“Stay out of it, Stefan.” Jules scolds his younger brother. “And by the way, what the fuck were the two of you doing here?”

I lift my face from his chest just in time to see Stefan’s eye roll.

“We woke up and saw that Rikki was missing, so we came looking for him. Duh. We asked one of the staff to bring us here.”

Jules barks out a mirthless laugh. “Go figure. I’m glad I never asked you to babysit Jenna. You two can’t even keep an eye on Rikki for one night.”

Crew comes to Stefan’s aid. “Typical Cutler. If you want to criticize, maybe you should help. Where are you and Lula coming from anyway? Lula never came back to our bungalow—wait a second. Where’s Napoleon?”

The question is for me.

---